Spent too long already thinking about a title so this will have to do

in #steem5 years ago (edited)

Hello there!

I woke up this morning and checked Steemworld, as I often do, and wondered if there was an issue with the auto-voting services. Usually sleep-time, which has been a bit erratic of late, allows a recharge of a couple of percent voting power but today and after a scroll through the last 8 hours of history, it turns out the voters are working fine...

Yes it's slightly hypocritical of me to say so, as this is my first entry in a couple of days, but the content needs to keep on coming. Now I'm not advocating 3/4/5 mini piles of pooh each day just to prove stake as some are, but something of note, even just a 'hello I'm still here and this is what i got up to today', will do for me.

Short-form content has 'gradually' crept in over the past year or so, I'm ok with that for the most part, even though I struggle a bit with producing it myself. @curie no longer have an unwritten 500 word/4000 char minimum 'rule' (they never had this rule but the curators have loosened word count as criteria), there are less viewers, many tend to skim articles search for the key piece of information/interest, apps like Actifit (with the daily step count reports) are becoming more common, and of course the value of our token has dropped a lot from highs - why bother making an effort, right?

For the future. It's tough right now to have 100% confidence in Steem and Crypto in general, but if there is any hope it's probably best to dig those heels in and keep going. Yes SMT are delayed (again), and the market has looked like a bloodbath for months, but it's not over yet.

Personal pressure

What's my excuse then? It's not you, it's me.

My past two posts have (somehow) been scored #1 by @steem-ua. I'm aware that many don't hold too much weight towards this, and most likely everyone reading this isn't aware of those back-to-back top scores, but for me they mean a lot. Why? because you can't get a high score unless you have engagement - and that comes down to you guys. Thank you.

What the scores do though is add pressure; pressure I put on myself.

For some reason I feel I have to go one better and seek out the next killer blockchain entry (the other's weren't this at all). I spend hours thinking about what I could produce, write notes that end up being deleted, go out and take photos (that also rarely make it to chain), and end up with nothing. Imagine if I only had 2/3 hours a day to Steem, and not the 17 I have right now.

( This post has almost been deleted 3 times already, and some may wonder if that would have been the best option but I'm fighting the urge :) )

So what is this text here for? I guess it's a personal g-up as much as anything else. It could also be serving as a fair warning that 2000 word, 2 days of work, analysis posts may be few and far between and that 4 photos and 4 paragraphs may appear a little more often in my feed for the time being - just not multiple times each day, but if that is your approach, good for you, ya punks :P

It's probably a week that I would have activated the 'stake lock' feature, if it existed. This would serve much healthier (less space, less pollution) than posting multiple weak efforts across multiple alts. to prove stake held, wouldn't it? By the way Taraz, a minimum SP for feature use makes sense - otherwise we could end up with very little content, and I don't think that would be beneficial right now.

Anyway, without this in place, you have this text, and so I should probably end on a super positive note, knowing that some will be reading the final paragraph only, or the biggest text :P #skimmed

Thank you for sticking around and visiting my blog, you rock!!!

Sooo yeah, shorter content without watchful whales/orcas slapping votes around like in the good old days is ok. Folks will remove votes / not vote if this becomes too frequent, or the quality/effort is too low for their liking I guess, or maybe not. I should worry about this less, I know.

Today I promised myself 10 minutes with my feet in the ocean. I've had this fucking laptop on my knees non-stop for weeks and urgently need to earth myself before I microwave my knackers off.


IMG_1217.JPG

Speak to you later, and have yourselves a lovely day.

Asher

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Hey Asher. I hope your balls are better for the paddle and didnt get too fried! 😂

Your post has just given me a jolt that was much needed. I had stopped posting because life went mad. Then I started using actifit as a way to stay sane and get some exercise. I love it. BUT... i need to get back to writing other engaging content too.

So thank you for the gentle prod in the ribs- and I look forward to your next 4 pics 4 para post, I love the way you write- so genuinely looking forward to hearing what youve been up to.

Evie x

What a lovely comment :D

I'm glad the post helped encourage you a little, as is often the case it didn't quite turn out as planned but I've had a couple of nice messages so that will do me :)

I'm really not confident with non-technical writing and certainly lack finesse with words, but that leaves a raw, honest feel I guess. Thank you!

p.s. My knackers have lived to see another day! :D :D

Hmm if I get curie upvote, it usually is the suuuperlong post. But I've also noticed that this unwritten rule you're talking about is deffo not in play anymore. What's more important are almost professional pictures really :D Get 4 or 5 of them in there with a medium long text and u have high chances of being selected. Not sure if it's good or bad.

On the other side, I see curie upvoting a lot of artists who put tens of hours into their creation soo that''s kinda cool they're not required to write additional texts to get some appreciation in form of curie vote.

Hah congratz on placing 1st two times :) You indeed are a king of engagement in that case :D Worth of running an engagement league hah :D

And the short content you're talking about. I dont even think it's cuz of low steem price etc. Simple fact is that people don't read posts here whole. THey scan for the information, read paragraph here andthere...and that's it. Where's demand there's offer. There's no demand for looong posts. Yours was literally on the edge ofwhat I'm willing to read if the post topic isn't talking about one of my hobies directly.

Yeah it was never a rule (I've already been contacted and been rapped for making out it was!), but I think you are spot on about short-form being more inline with many people's attention spans these days.

I see curie upvoting a lot of artists who put tens of hours into their creation soo that''s kinda cool they're not required to write additional texts to get some appreciation in form of curie vote.

Absolutely, when there is art/music involved there is less requirement for text.

I've never been a waffler, and would prefer to be typed at/spoken to directly much of the time. Many words are fluff - cue the attack of the writers and a bunch of unfollows for that comment :)

Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to read and respond :)

Hahah man, im either overworked or retarded but I don't understand this sentence at all :DD

I've never been a waffler, and would prefer to be typed at/spoken to directly much of the time. Many words are fluff - cue the attack of the writers and a bunch of unfollows for that comment

Oh and happy to read & comment. Gotta work my way up the rankings :D

Sort of proves that i'm no writer!

Give me the info in bullet points over a long drawn-out explanation. Better? :)

Oh dear @abh12345. @slobbershops was saying something similar a couple of days ago - he's finding it hard to find stuff to upvote.

I have a load of snail photos (of the arty rather than the gastropod kind) that I took a while ago to make into a wednesdaywalk post but the thought fills me with such ennui I might need to go and lie down.

However, the unused upvotes, allbethem small, is a little enticing. But will it be enough.

Time will tell. I have to sort out the Avios/Air Miles debacle first. Yawn, yawn.

Nice photograph by the way but nosy curious minds want to know . . . who took it?

There is content out there for sure and some of my VP goes towards trailing c-cubed because IMO, they are finding the best of it right now.

I have a load of snail photos ... I took a while ago to make into a wednesdaywalk post but the thought fills me with such ennui I might need to go and lie down.

haha, sorry, I'm laughing. If you feel this way, probably best not to post then :)

Taken by the ex, it's a year or so old.

Hi m8. Titles are overrated anyway 😉

It's a strange thing, but I've found that it doesn't matter how much long considered content I put out in the creative writing fields at the moment, the engagement is small and fleeting. I'm not complaining, more concerned if I'm honest. The reason being, when whole tags are being ignored, what does this say about steem as a whole?

I started making vlogs last week and they got loads of engagement... fantastic some might say, just start making vlogs. But, to be honest, this is not a healthy thing for any content creator to have to do. In a healthy ecosystem someone wouldn't have to ditch creating what they're good at for something they're mediocre at best.

I'm not sure what any of this has to do with your post lol. I guess it feeds into what you're saying about needing to provide value with substantial posts. I feel like the writing posts I've made do provide that, yet the video content provides a lesser level of craft. But they are commented and voted on more.

I suppose what I'm saying is, while I'm not going anywhere, my confidence in steem has also taken a beating recently. But it's all about choice right? Just gotta make a choice to continue... or not. Or, maybe, learn a new skill of video making lol

Posted using Partiko Android

Right. I think many have joined with an idea of what they want to present, and ended up taking a different route. Clearly spending hours on something you enjoy only to receive little engagement is a bit of a let-down, but perhaps mixing this in with video content will slowly drive engagement on your favoured content.

I don't think now is the time to be too critical on the lack of eyes on your work and respect that you've opened out to a new niche to seek more engagement.

Confidence is low, STEEM is low, but it is 100% your choice on what to do next. Rack up a butt-load of cheap STEEM creating video content, become a chunky Orca and bring the masses to your texts with big comment up-votes? :D

I'll be completely honest. I've been pondering in my mind very seriously what to do in regards to my future on steem. And your comment, along with many other factors have helped build some clarity.

spending hours on something you enjoy only to receive little engagement is a bit of a let-down

It goes beyond that. In regards to the creative writing, I am devaluing something which I could be selling elsewhere for a much better return on my time and higher readership. Simple economics. I came to realize this over the last few weeks with this freelance writing work I've been doing. It has been well received and reasonable pay also. I'm not being negative, it's just the truth.

Rack up a butt-load of cheap STEEM creating video content, become a chunky Orca and bring the masses to your texts with big comment up-votes? :D

Ha ha, and here's where your words have helped Asher. Realities are realities. You're right. I'm going to be starting writing a novel soon and had already said I might vlog about the creative process.

Evolving is the way forward I think. + Becoming a vlogging dolphin/orca 😉

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Could you produce extracts of the freelance writing here? Or maybe some of the stuff that didn't quite make it to the other press?

Up to you though, if the vids are working here, and the writing elsewhere then it seems pretty clear on what to be doing :)

Well finding things to post could be a real hassle somedays.
That why I try to have some fixed days.
Monday is the day of my steem progress report and in Tuesday I do have the portfolio update to write about.
Than we do have steemmonsters which could be used to fill one or two posts.
The sbc league brts are also a blessing!
Actifit also helps if I do have a day of more than 10k steps.
This kind of schedule helps when you are not commited full time to steem!

Back to back number 1 on steem-ua is just astonishing! My highest rank was around 38!
Guess the engagement league always will do weel in the steem-ua algorithm!

You get what you deserve Asher!
Already decided what and where your next job will be?

Cheers,
Peter

Yeah I agree, the scheduled posts are a life saver for days lacking inspiration. The League post is one, and as you say, is a given for reasonable engagement/UA. That's down to you guys though :)

Thanks for the words of encouragement, I do need those from time to time.

No further forward as yet with job offers, when something happens I'll be sure to update.

Have a good one!

Always appreciate candor @abh12345 and this post demonstrates that. So, your state of mind ...

"For the future. It's tough right now to have 100% confidence in Steem and Crypto in general, but if there is any hope it's probably best to dig those heels in and keep going. Yes SMT are delayed (again), and the market has looked like a bloodbath for months, but it's not over yet."

... understood and still supporting your efforts!

On your comment here, a lot of us "listen" to others. Would appreciate your comments and perspective on this proposed offer of "help" from BlockTrades to Steemit Inc. I don't know the history "in here," but would appear to be a lot riding on how this "plays out" ...

Thanks Rob

I've always tried to be open and honest, sometimes that brings positive vibes and sometimes not.

With regards to the help offer from BT to Steemit inc:

Considering Steemit inc started in BT's basement and he holds a mined stake of millions, you could say that
he's here for the platform and wants the best for it. For what it's worth, I'm in favor of witnesses (particularly this one with the above in mind) offering to lessen the workload, even if it may cost to do so.

I hope this goes ahead and Steemit inc can focus on SMT.

Thanks for stopping by today :)

Home after "another day in paradise" ... And catching up a bit.

Thanks for your perspective @abh12345. But ...

"...and he holds a mined stake of millions ..."

Not sure who "he" is. Dan? If so, I don't their history, but vaguely think I've seen reference to him and Ned breaking up their original partnership. If so ... How is this going to "play out?"

Anyway, you say you are in favor, so you must know the two of them well enough to think it is the best long-term interests of our Steem blockchain.

Thank you!

I’m still here, still alive but I can’t seem to find the time to write even one post these days. Life just seems to get in the way all the time! Even those short ones with a couple photographs and paragraphs are tough for me to find time to write. I do try to read those on my feed...now and then.

Glad you are still around! Good to see you here ✌ are you getting any steem monster battles in these days?

Do it @beeyou, do it! :D

The festive period could help, or not. Thanks for stopping by :)

Best title ever.

Well in that case, my work here is done! Hit me with that #1 steem-ua! :P

wao, enjoy that beautiful beach ... I would like to be right now on a beach like that, hahaha.
If you need to add more people to your list of autovotes, you can include me hahaha ... I publish every day ... the last two days I published something very fast, as you say in this publication but it is because I have my two sick girls and I've been to the doctor and I could hardly post ... but you can check the previous days to see if you like my posts ... 😉

Have a great day ... I'm sure you'll have it because with a start on that beautiful beach ... you'll all go great!

If you need to add more people to your list of auto-votes, you can include me

haha :) Can't fault you for trying, I will have to do some research first though.

Sorry to hear about family sickness, I hope that things improve soon.

Thank you, and thanks for dropping by :)

Sorry to hear about family sickness, I hope that things improve soon.

Amen, thank God they are better today.

haha :) Can't fault you for trying, I will have to do some research first though.

haha the worst diligence is the one that is not done, so at least I tried, hahaha ... you can investigate ... preferably in my publications of 3 days or more because as I told you in the last two days, I published something very simple. :) Thank´s

If someone did skim the last paragraph and even sentence of this post they would be highly concerned about the state of your knackers! 😂😂. Are you massaging them in the photo while you dip your feet?

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hahaha, I could be? Lil bit of pocket billiards perhaps?

No idea, probably not (in public). Can't be good for them/me though, having this laptop on my knee for hours each day.

I bet the water is pretty chilly today, I shall go find out..

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